Pendragon (Sherbrooke Brides 7)

“Yes,” Thomas said, “I know Lord Kipper was with you. That just means that he hired someone else to help him.”

Libby said very quietly, “I didn’t want to believe it, truly, I didn’t. I forced myself not to think about it. When Jenny MacGraff disappeared, I was relieved, pleased that she was gone, that she wouldn’t drag your name down by marrying you. I wanted her to have run off to Dublin. I prayed it was true. I was lying to myself. And look at what has happened. I’m very sorry.” She looked up at her son, closed her hand over his. “I’m very, very sorry.”

William was shaking his head, not looking at his mother.

Libby said, “Niles has had Bernard Leach here for a good long time now.”

Thomas said, cocking his head to the side, his voice puzzled, “But Lord Kipper bedded Marie Leach, he said so, said that Bernard was a sot and a clod. It was obvious to me that Lord Kipper had nothing but contempt for Bernard Leach. Why would he let Bernard stay with him?”

Libby shrugged. “I saw Bernard. I wasn’t supposed to, but I did, out by the stables one morning when I was leaving. Why was he there? I don’t know.”

“He was there as Lord Kipper’s tool,” Thomas said. “That’s it, then. We know enough. William, sir, Jeremy, are you ready?”

35

THOMAS WOULD COME, her father with him. Perhaps even Jeremy. She had to keep herself alive, just had to. She remembered she’d sworn to Thomas she would never leave him. She wasn’t about to break that promise.

Lord Kipper had fallen silent. He was standing over Jenny MacGraff, a thoughtful expression on his face. He looked suddenly vicious. She watched him lift one of his riding boots and kick her in the ribs.

Meggie saw red, reared up onto her elbows. It hurt, but she didn’t care. “You bastard, don’t do that again. Damn you, you miserable coward!”

Lord Kipper ignored her. He said, both his voice and his expression utterly dismissive, and listened to Jenny moan, “She is so very common. I could not allow her to marry William. A travesty, that’s what it would have been.”

Meggie saw that Jenny was lying on her side, huddled in on herself on the bare floor. She was slight, her hair pale, her skin very white. She was very young and very pretty. She was also alarmingly pale. She was wearing a simple muslin gown that was twisted about her knees, woolen stockings, and one black slipper. The other one had come off her foot and was lying several feet away from her.

“No,” Lord Kipper said, his voice meditative now, as if he were speaking to himself, “I could not allow her to marry William.” Then he looked over at Meggie. “Don’t you understand yet? This merchant’s daughter couldn’t be the next countess of Lancaster. Any fool in his right mind would realize what a bitter jest that would be. Thomas forced my hand when he ordered William to marry her on Sunday. I had to do something, and so I did. And then yesterday at the damned tea party your husband set up—William was so very close. And I saw that everyone else was now thinking about that. Everything would soon come down on my head and I couldn’t have that, not until I’d fixed everything.”

Meggie said slowly, “You are willing to kill three innocent people because you want William to be the next earl of Lancaster? Blessed Hell, why would you care who is the earl of Lancaster? It’s nothing to do with you.”

“What a stupid question, Meggie. Haven’t you yet realized that I am William’s father?”

Meggie said nothing for a full minute, then quietly, nodding slowly, “You should be ever so pleased then that he got Jenny pregnant. He also got another girl in Glenclose-on-Rowan pregnant. He is just like you, isn’t he? Like father like son. Do you hate the women you have despoiled?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Women are women, they are to be used, to be enjoyed. All of you are silly creatures, at least most of you are. As for my son, in that William much likes to bed women, yes, he is like me, actually like practically all men, truth be told. Some of us are masters at it, most aren’t. Unfortunately, William is one of the latter. He does not have my charm or my brain, but I will teach him. Surely he will improve once he knows that I am his father, once he knows what I have given him. Yes, once William knows that the old earl of Lancaster was so obsessed, so gripped with the belief that he could not trust a woman to bear his son and not another man’s, he will thank me, he will bless fate that gave me him as his father and not that miserable old man. Interesting, isn’t it? The old earl sewed the seeds of his own destruction. His father was the same way, I understand.”

“Evidently, the old earl was right not to trust Libby, wasn’t he?”

“He shouldn’t have distrusted her, she never gave him a reason. Our brief liaison was discreet, William the result. No, Titus Malcombe was a mad, stupid man. At least I had Libby come here to Pendragon after he booted her and William out. I’ve looked after both her and William over the years. I expect William will be so relieved that Lord Lancaster isn’t his father that he will fall upon my neck.” Lord Kipper grinned at that thought, and for just an instant, there was a warmth in his eyes. “I will bring him to live with me for a while, to complete his education.”

“The earl of Lancaster was Thomas’s father, wasn’t he?”

Lord Kipper shrugged, eyes dead again. “I know that Madeleine played him false one time. Was he Thomas’s father or was his father Madeleine’s lover? I don’t know. I don’t really care. Yes, William will learn everything from me, his real father. He is still very young. He will not disappoint me.”

Meggie said, “If he doesn’t learn, will you kill him, too?”

“Shut up, you stupid girl. You paint me as a monster, but I’m not. I want my son to have what should be his. I’ve been planning this for a very long time. Once he is the earl of Lancaster, I will marry Libby and adopt William, so that when I die, he will also gain my title and lands. No one will ever know that he is a bastard. It will be our little family secret.”

“Is William, I wonder, bereft of any sort of human decency, like you, his father?”

He stepped toward her, his fist raised, then stopped. He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what you think, what you say. I merely do what I must, no more, no less. Actually, as it turned out, it wasn’t such a bad thing that Thomas met you and fell in love with you—ah, that’s a stupidity, isn’t it? This love business that doesn’t exist in this benighted world. But that’s not at all to the point. You brought him a splendid dowry—that is what’s important—and that will mean all the more money for William and his heirs.”

“I will wager you that right this minute Thomas knows you are the evil behind all this. He is right now searching for you.”

“No, you’re wrong, not yet, not yet. But it will be close. I will mourn your loss, Meggie, you may count on that. Yes, I must move quickly now. I’m sorry for your death, but in the long run you’re not really important.” He saw that she was shaking her head at him, that she was so pale, she already looked dead. Such a pity, but no choice. “Listen to me,” he said. “I could not allow you to have a child, and the good Lord knows that would certainly be the outcome since the two of you are consumed with lust for each other. And imagine, you a vicar’s daughter. Yes, you having a child, that would have complicated matters far too much. You must die now, Meggie, common Jenny with you.

“Thomas, well, I suppose I myself must see to his removal since Bernard doesn’t have the guts to. Perhaps I will let him go easily, an accident in his curricle, perhaps. That will do nicely. Yes, Bernard is a coward, when all is said and done.”

Talk, she had to keep talking, slow down time itself. “What really happened to Marie?”